Congress has the power to right itself

10:57 AM,
Apr. 2, 2014

Written by

Lee H. Hamilton

These are hard times for Congress. Its approval ratings have seen a bump from their historic lows of a few months ago, but it's a small one. Our representative democracy's keystone political institution is widely derided as ineffective, unproductive, irrelevant and sadly out of touch.

It is no coincidence this comes while Congress has developed a taste for so-called "unorthodox lawmaking," wandering far outside its traditional procedures. That's why I would argue that as grim as things seem now, there is a fix for what ails Congress.